Managing inventory of targeted advertisements for in-vehicle entertainment

A method for managing advertisements in an in-flight entertainment (“IFE”) system operating on an airplane, the method comprising:

• receiving targeting requirements for an advertisement campaign, the targeting requirements indicating a type of targeted advertisements desired by an advertiser including targeted advertisement opportunities that are associated with airplane passengers performing specific activities during a flight, the specific activities being separate from demographic data associated with the airplane passengers;
• determining an inventory of targeted advertisements for a plurality of future flights based on the targeting requirements by i) retrieving a list of booked passengers for each flight of the plurality of future flights, ii) estimating additional expected passengers for each flight of the plurality of future flights, and iii) determining the inventory of targeted advertisements based on the list of booked passengers for each flight of the plurality of future flights and the additional expected passengers for each flight of the plurality of future flights;
• responsive to determining the inventory, receiving a request to use a portion of the inventory for the advertisements associated with the advertiser;
• responsive to receiving the request and prior to departure, transmitting instructions to an advertisement controller processing device on-board the airplane to cause the advertisement controller processing device to provide the advertisements during the targeted advertisement opportunities during the flight, the instructions being independent from entertainment content;
• receiving an impression count from the advertisement controller processing device on-board the airplane indicating a first quantity of targeted advertisements during the flight used to provide the advertisements;
• monitoring a total quantity of targeted advertisements used to provide the advertisements;
• determining whether the total quantity of targeted advertisements exceeds a threshold value that is based on the request to use the portion of the inventory for the advertisements associated with the advertiser;
• and
• in response to determining that the total quantity of targeted advertisements exceeds the threshold value, preventing the advertisements from being provided on subsequent flights,
• wherein the impression count is used to create a report ensuring a proof of contract fulfillment of the advertisement campaign with the advertiser.

A system for managing advertisements in a video-on-demand (“VOD”) system operating in a vehicle, the system comprising:

• an inventory processing device;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the inventory processing device to cause the inventory processing device to perform operations comprising:
• determining an inventory of targeted advertisements for a plurality of future flights by i) retrieving a list of booked passengers for each flight of the plurality of future flights, ii) estimating additional expected passengers for each flight of the plurality of future flights, and iii) determining the inventory of targeted advertisements based on the list of booked passengers for each flight of the plurality of future flights and the additional expected passengers for each flight of the plurality of future flights;
• responsive to determining the inventory, receiving a request to use a portion of the inventory for the advertisements associated with an advertiser;
• and
• responsive to receiving the request and prior to departure, transmitting instructions to an advertisement controller processing device on-board the vehicle to cause the advertisement controller processing device to provide the advertisements during targeted advertisement opportunities during a trip, the instructions being independent from entertainment content;
• receiving an impression count from the advertisement controller processing device on-board the vehicle indicating a first quantity of targeted advertisements during the trip used to provide the advertisements;
• monitoring a total quantity of targeted advertisements used to provide the advertisements;
• determining whether the total quantity of targeted advertisements exceeds a threshold value that is based on the request to use the portion of the inventory for the advertisements associated with the advertiser;
• and
• in response to determining that the total quantity of targeted advertisements exceeds the threshold value, preventing the advertisements from being provided on subsequent trips,
• wherein the impression count is used to create a report ensuring a proof of contract fulfillment of an advertisement campaign with the advertiser, and
• wherein transmitting the instructions to the advertisement controller processing device on-board the vehicle comprises transmitting the advertisement, independent from the entertainment content, to the advertisement controller within a predetermined time of every trip.